Artemis Fox
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: Left to die in the Irish woods by her maternal 'aunt', she had no idea that in America her true family was waiting. Meet Artemis Fox, mutant, witch, and Savior to more than just the inbred magicals her mother married into. With her two fox familiars, her amnesiac father, and her older sister/cousin, can she finally bring the mutant argument to an end? Or is she in for a long fall?
1. Chapter 1

In the beginning, there was a couple on vacation. They were young, very much in love, and the wife was a light drinker while the husband often drank too much.

Because of this fact, the wife had one too many and went to a local hotel with the wrong man while the husband kept pouring more into his glass.

When the wife woke up the next day, she had no idea she had accidentally cheated on her husband. However the couple wouldn't realize the consequences of that night until the woman found out she was pregnant.

However when the child was born, no one was aware that the girl wasn't James' daughter. Primarily because she resembled her mother so much that people didn't look past it.

And since James named little Ruby his heir, the goblins could care less that she wasn't a Potter by blood. She was a Potter by magical adoption, as far as they were concerned. At least until the man produced another heir that was of his bloodline.

Lily was four months pregnant when Voldemort found the couple and killed them both.

* * *

The deer was eating peacefully. It knew of the predator that stalked the woods, but the creature was active during the night more than during the day. It was usually absent during the high points of the day.

The air went quiet. The deer's head went up...there was something here.

A near silent 'whoosh', and the deer felt a sharp pain before it knew no more.

A small figure dropped down from the trees. It was female, roughly six to seven years old in appearance. In one hand was a bow, and on her back was a rather large quiver of homemade arrows. She reached down to her oversized boots and pulled out a sharp hunting knife.

It took her less than two hours to clean the deer and leave all the parts she didn't want for the scavengers. Eating plants was tricky, because you never knew if it was safe or not. Animals were easier.

The girl went into the den that she created with her power. It was important to work fast, because the rangers in charge of the forest knew there was an illegal hunter who was killing the deer, and they were determined to catch them. And to do that, they put electronic tags on every deer they found.

Because she didn't use guns, they couldn't exactly find her through the sound. And homemade arrows made it easy to break them and turn them back into simple firewood. What she didn't eat, the scavengers cleaned up. Waste not, want not.

Once inside her den, she started the fire to cook the meat.

One of the things she often did without was spices, but fortunately she learned to do without or to scavenge for things like edible berries. A well worn copy of a field guild explaining edible plants and berries lay in the corner, too far from the fire to be in any danger.

Once the meat was on it's way to becoming a meal, she checked outside the den that was hidden by the tree's root system. It had three openings.

One was the main entrance, which lead straight out the tree and was partially obscured by a bush. Because it was so small, only a child could really fit in it, or someone equally small. It got a little bigger the more she used it, but it was still a tight squeeze for any adult of average size. The second was close to the river, where the best wild berries grew. It was how she got her water and hid the signs of her using the bathroom. Well, except in winter months, when she usually broke into the vacant houses that were deeper in the woods.

That was where her spice collection and the field guild came from. She took it from the same ranger station that was trying to catch her, but she was too good at hiding.

The third was the emergency exit. It was in case the rangers (or a dangerous animal) ever found her den and managed to corner her. The emergency exit wasn't on the ground, or covered up like the river entrance.

Instead it went straight up the same tree the first entrance was hiding. The tree itself was hollow, but still very much alive. Because of how thick it was, she could climb up if she was very careful and dragged the bag behind her, and then escape through the branches.

There was a sound at the entrance, and she tensed...at least until the small pair of fox twins she had rescued by feeding after their mother was killed by a poacher showed up.

The two had treated her like a mother, despite having learned how to hunt on their own. They were usually the first to her kills, feeding well on anything she left behind before leaving some for the other animals. However during school hours, which was when she had to be away from her 'home', they mostly wandered around the forest collecting food.

Being around her for so long made them extra intelligent, a side effect of the power she had inherited from her mother. Not that she was aware of it. All she knew was that she healed quickly, poisonous plants usually just gave her a high fever, and that she could understand snakes.

As a side effect of befriending the local snake population, she slowly developed an immunity to snake venom, mostly from when she couldn't hunt and they shared their kills.

The girl looked around the den. One of the walls was looking a bit loose...she would have to push it with her power again to keep it from falling inwards and possibly collapsing the den. It was something she had to do periodically, but it was something she put up with. The taller she got, the higher the ceiling was. Her den look like a small cave, and could easily fit a medium sized black bear...if they could get into the tiny entrances that is.

Her nose, which had always been hypersensitive for some reason, twitched. The meat was almost done. She always knew when meat was done, or about to go bad before it did. It made going into the bigger cities a nightmare...and that was before her sensitive hearing came into play. She hated crowds with a passion. They were so _loud_.

She clenched her right hand. She always had these weird claw things...likely why she got along so well with the predators. The bone slid out of her hand and she speared the smallest piece of meat with it. She always set aside a few pieces of meat for the foxes, who gobbled up the offering. Once that was done, she ate her own meat, using the claws like spears. Her canines were extra sharp and made ripping it off the bone easier.

Once she had finished the mean, she took her hunting knife which she filched from the ranger station and used it to break the bone in half. She had found out by accident that the inside of the bone was filled with tasty marrow, and that helped to fill her stomach when food was hard to come by in the winter months.

After eating, she took out her small backpack and the homework she had been given for the day. Outside of hunting she didn't have much else to do at night. And the school that happened to be a mile from the border of the forest didn't ask questions about her parents.

Considering how self-sufficient she was, and the fact she could usually fake a signature, the teachers never thought about it. The school was big enough that they had trouble containing the other children, who would rather play than sit quietly like she did. Frankly they were just glad she didn't cause trouble like the rest and put her out of mind so long as the homework was turned in on time.

Once her homework was done, she went to work at making new arrows from sticks the foxes brought her. She had trained them to find sturdy sticks she could sharpen until she could shoot them from the bow she had been lucky to find in one of the abandoned lodges. The man who owned it had been furious, but he rarely came to the lodge near the lake and she had needed something to kill at a distance reliably. It wasn't like he couldn't afford a new one, seeing as how his house had a lot of fancy gadgets that she saw.

By the time the moon rose, she slipped out of the den to get more water. The moon was full, which made her happy. She liked to watch the moon.

The female fox barked a warning, as it saw one of the rangers coming. The smoke had alerted him that their 'poacher' might be nearby.

She slipped into her den, covered the fire with dirt and used her power to usher the smoke out quickly. By the time he reached the area, he was left with no evidence a small girl was there.

And with the help of the larger male fox, he immediately assumed the hole in the trunk was a simple fox den. The girl smirked. It was fun to fool adults.

* * *

Charles Xavier was a psychic, and a mutant. He felt it was his duty to seek out mutant children and bring them to his school for their protection and for proper training. And for the most part, he was very good at it. Sure there were the odd bad apples, children who hated humans for various reasons, but they were thankfully few and far between.

For the past three years, he had been getting signals from a rather odd mind. Thanks to Cerebro, he could connect with _every_ mutant mind on the planet...and considering his power that was dangerous. He could quite literally lobotomize every mutant (or human) simply from his wheelchair. It was terrifying to think of a less moral psychic with a grudge against humanity doing just that.

Still, this mind was quite odd. So much so that he sometimes came down to the hidden part of the mansion just to listen to it...once he got past the defense which had originally caught his attention anyway.

The mind was intelligent, but very simple. Where most children (and he knew it was a child) were concerned about games, toys, television or even their friends, this mind cared more about embracing the simple nature of the wild. They hunted, they studied (so as to not arouse suspicion), they played with a pair of foxes they adopted, and they lived in the wilds as a part of nature.

He called the child Artemis in his head, after the Greek goddess of the hunt and moon. Strangely, the child seemed to pick up on his little nickname for her, because she claimed it as her own.

It was because he found her mind relaxing (and hearing the ranger's mind was often amusing as they couldn't catch her) that he 'overheard' a disturbing piece of information. The forest was scheduled to undergo a controlled wildfire, mostly to clear the overgrowth and prevent a disaster. The burn would be slow, since this happened every ten years or so, and the animals would be evacuated beforehand...but the girl was unaware of this fact. She could get caught in the fire and be killed, as could her companions.

He wasn't about to let such an interesting mind be killed or harmed by such an event. It was time he collected the girl from the woods of Ireland. The only reason he had abstained was because he feared she would react badly to being brought to the institute...and because of legal issues since she was European.

Considering she had been fooling her teachers about her parents, she might even help with that endeavor. It was one of the few times he would look the other way with using powers on humans.

* * *

"So...any idea why the Professor seemed so interested in this one?" asked Jean to Ororo.

"No idea. I think this is the kid he keeps sneaking off to listen to with Cerebro though," admitted the other woman. It was a badly kept secret among the older mutants like Jean, Scott and Ororo that their old teacher would go down to where Cerebro was and listen to one mind in particular whenever things were stressful. Apparently he found listening to the child's mind relaxing because while it was highly intelligent, it was also rather simple.

When he told them where to locate the girl and her 'pets' (he called them companions, but no matter how you looked at it that translated to pet) and why they needed to collect the girl as soon as possible. Something about a scheduled fire.

To the three that said only one thing.

A two-day camping trip. One the Professor encouraged because they rarely got to do anything fun and it meant getting a few days off.

Ororo would have her own tent, since Scott and Jean would be sharing one. Everyone knew the two were a couple, and she didn't want to overhear them by accident.

"So what exactly are we supposed to be looking for anyway?" asked Scott.

"The Professor said the girl had a mind like a thick briar patch. If I find a spot where the mind is rather closed off and somewhat painful to try and enter, then we've found her. He doesn't really have a physical description because the girl rarely looks at her own reflection whenever the Professor is listening in. There's also a pair of foxes that live with her," said Jean.

Scott didn't get why this one kid had gotten the Professor's attention, but he did get that this was basically a vacation while they tried to find another mutant child. At least he could put his rarely used camping skills to work.

* * *

"Camping?" said the ranger incredulous. People rarely wanted to camp in these woods because they were so thick unless they owned a cabin near the lake. There were also the large amount of snakes, the bear and the fact it was hard to get any supplies because the camp sites were too far from the road, and it wasn't traveled enough to make it worth it.

To be perfectly honest, only the real outdoors-men, the rangers, and the resident poacher/thief would even consider it a good camping location.

"We heard it was a good place to go camping without having to deal with the nuisance of cell phones, and my boyfriend here really needs to learn not to check his e-mail so often," said Jean with a straight face.

Scott made one of his own, like he couldn't believe his girlfriend was using him as an excuse.

"Well we don't exactly have any camp grounds you can use, but I don't see why you couldn't camp around here. Just be out before the end of the week. We're undergoing a scheduled wildfire to clear out the brush, and if you get lost, use one of these flares to let us know," he said, handing her a flare gun.

Jean nodded and thanked him.

With their cover story in place, the trio went deep into the woods, using Jean as a guide to find their target.

By nightfall it was too dark to do anything more than set up camp. Fortunately there was a river that was relatively clean since it wasn't a forest most people camped in and wasn't too close to the lake. Odds were the girl they were trying to find used the same river to drink from, so it was likely safe for them as well.

Scott, when he went to get some firewood, came face-to-snout with a rather odd fox. It seemed to dart into the undergrowth and grab sturdy branches or sticks, then run off with it in it's mouth.

"Very odd."

"What is?"

"I just saw a fox grab a stick and run off with it like a dog," said Scott to Ororo.

"Very strange indeed," agreed Ororo.

"What's this about a fox?"

"I saw a fox grab a stick and act like a dog would," explained Scott.

Jean froze. The Professor specifically mentioned the girl had trained foxes with her.

She started scanning the area, letting her power get to work.

At first there was nothing...but then she hit an odd spot. It almost felt painful, like she had brushed up against a particularly thick briar patch that was determined to hang onto her clothes. Honing in on that, she started looking around. The Professor mentioned the girl had a den of sorts, and that it wasn't particularly easy to locate.

Because it was too dark, she resolved to wake early and look in the morning.


	2. Chapter 2

Jean's hunch they had accidentally found the girl was spot on. Thanks to waking up before dawn and keeping quiet when she felt the odd spot stir, she was able to catch a glimpse of the illusive mutant child there were there to collect.

The girl was skinny, but not in an unhealthy way that couldn't be solved with a bit more food. Considering she must primarily live off what she caught and cooked, it wasn't surprising she was so thin. It was good to see she also had a backpack that was well used with a few pieces of school items sticking out, like a ruler and an odd pencil. If one of them stayed behind, the other two could go and see if they couldn't find her in town. That had to be easier than trying to track her in an area she knew very well, if what the Professor said was any indication.

"I'll stay behind. From the what you said of her description you could easily pass for her mother," said Ororo.

Jean had gotten a very good look at the girl. She had red hair almost the exact same shade as Jean's and while her clothes weren't very fancy or brand new, they were well kept.

The moment Ororo said that comment about Jean passing for the girl's mother, a stray thought occurred to her. One she hadn't considered, but would make bringing the girl legally back to America and making her a legal citizen much easier.

"Come to think of it, I think I have a few cousins over here in Europe. The Evans family, if I remember right. I just hope I don't have to go see Petunia again though," said Jean with a shudder. If she wasn't absolutely certain her cousin Lily _wasn't _a mutant like herself, she would have had yet another thing to share with her. It would certainly explain why Petunia hated her sister so much and called her a freak whenever Lily wasn't within earshot.

Jean had never liked Petunia, but she had adored Lily. It was a shame her cousin was killed.

* * *

She knew something was up when she overheard the teachers talking about her parents coming in. That was impossible, since she knew for a fact her parents were either dead or didn't care. If they did care, then why would anyone leave their daughter with that horse-faced hag and her walrus of a husband?

She still remembered the day the horse dumped her off in the camp grounds near the lake. At first it had been a nightmare...but once she quit listening to her human instincts, the animal side took over. Once that happened, she found it was easier. She could hear, smell, see and feel the movement of nature like it was nothing.

That was before she got her bow. Now she could hunt and feed herself more effectively than any other child her age.

However...she had no idea who these people were.

She carefully opened her mind, wincing slightly from the noise, before it dimmed down. Almost immediately she felt someone poke her gently.

_Hello._

_Who are you and why on earth are you claiming to be my mother? I know for a fact the horse said she died._

There was an open wince at her blunt question.

_What do you know about mutants?  
_

_I know that those who claim they are monstrosities or abominations of god are complete idiots. I also know that they care about as much as their blood purity as a normal human, which is not at all. It's the person that matters, not the ability._

She could sense open approval.

_Are you aware that the method we are currently using is part of your own mutation, and that there is a school where you can be with others that have similar talents in America?_

_...Xavier's School for the Gifted?_

_You knew about..._

_Anyone with half a brain could read between the lines to realize it's a school for mutants to learn and be trained. I take it that you want me to join that school instead of this one? Why now?_

_The forest you've been living in is scheduled to undergo a scheduled wildfire to cut down on the overgrowth. The Professor was worried you'd get caught in the blaze._

_I was wondering what all the hubbub was about. Wait...does this 'Professor' like to go trolling through minds as well?_

_The Professor does not 'troll'._

_He's a damn nuisance is what he is. He should know peeking in the heads of others like that is rude._

In the office, Jean choked. Scott gave her an odd look, but she managed to keep from laughing.

_I'll play along for now, but if I don't like this place expect me to suddenly go missing with my two friends. I'm not leaving them behind._

Jean already knew they would have to transport the foxes, which was why they had brought the largest dog carrier they could find. Hopefully they could get along with each other long enough for them to reach the institute.

Artemis acted like she knew the two adults, not caring if she had to use a little bit of her power to make the teachers believe these were the same 'parents' they generally dealt with.

* * *

Ororo was very surprised when Scott and Jean returned with a girl not even ten. One who looked very much like a runaway, albeit one who kept better care of herself despite living in the wilds.

"Ororo, meet the little girl we were sent to retrieve. Artemis Fox," said Jean.

"Hello little one. My name is Ororo Monroe, though some call me Storm."

"Hello ma'am. I should probably get my things, if we're leaving."

To the collective shock of Scott and Ororo, the girl went to a section of the same tree they had used as cover and promptly slid down like it was a shoot. Less than ten minutes later she came back up, though for some reason she had her knuckles to the ground rather than use her hands.

She let out a series of strange bark-like sounds, and from out of the underbrush, the two foxes appeared.

One of the foxes had a white under belly and white tipped tail. Their fur was primarily a dark color that was so deep it was almost black. The male was larger than the female, but the female was faster and more adept at sniffing things out.

Jean noticed a large quiver and what appeared to be a very expensive and well used bow.

"Where on earth did you get that bow?"

"Some rich idiot who lives near the lake, roughly a mile from where my relatives originally dumped me because I'm and I'm quoting them on this 'too freakish to continue dirtying their home and air'," said Artemis without a hint of care. It was as if she had come to terms with being so callously abandoned at a young age, despite the fact she was almost too young to fend for herself.

"How long ago was that?" asked Ororo, keeping her powers tightly contained.

"About two or three years ago. I didn't exactly keep count of how long I've been living in the wilds of Ireland. Frankly I'm amazed the fat pigs and the stupid horse were able to stand so much fresh air long enough to dump me considering the little porker hates camping and couldn't bear to be away from his precious toys longer than an hour," said Artemis with a shrug.

Jean nearly growled.

"Who exactly are the 'fat pigs and stupid horse'?" she asked.

"My uncle, cousin and aunt respectively," said Artemis.

"Their names."

"Vernon and Petunia Dursley, and their son Dudley."

Jean's mind went completely cold.

"By any chance do they live in Surrey and does this Petunia have a sister named Lily?"

Artemis cocked her head.

"How'd you know my mom's name?"

"Jean?" said Scott, worried about the look on his girlfriend's face.

"It looks like we're going to have a detour. I need to remind my dear _cousins_ about how they should treat family. Either way it makes getting Artemis here a green card that much easier. If her actions are any indication, Petunia should sign over custody without too much fuss."

"...Could you give that fat bastard Vernon a few kicks between the legs? Please?" asked Artemis, once she worked out this new information.

"If he shows up, I guarantee you I will," said Jean darkly. She was pissed. Lily had been her favorite cousin, and the only one who didn't treat her like a monster once she found out Jean was a mutant.

* * *

Petunia Dursley thought that after they dumped the freak brat in the Irish woods, that would be the end of it. Who knew, maybe the stupid brat had finally died and joined her freak parents.

Then her entire world came crashing down when she heard a knock at the door...revealing her even more freakish American cousin, Jean Grey.

It was bad enough Lily turned out to be a witch. Petunia preferred not to think of their mutual cousin who was an abomination against nature.

"You! What are you doing here?!" shrieked Petunia low enough the neighbors wouldn't hear.

Jean's eyes narrowed.

"Cleaning up after _your_ mistakes apparently. Really Petunia, did you think we wouldn't find out what you did?" said Jean coldly. Petunia looked past her to the car that she had driven into the subdivision. It wasn't flashy, but it also wasn't very discreet. The second she saw those green eyes in the car glare at her, she realized why her monster cousin was there.

"If you want that damn brat, you can have her. We never wanted her in our home to begin with, but we couldn't get rid of her."

"Fortunately I can solve that problem. Sign this, and you'll never be responsible for that child again."

Petunia didn't even look at the papers, she signed them without any hesitation whatsoever.

In a stroke of monumentally bad luck (for Vernon) Petunia's husband came into the driveway. Once he was properly out of the car, Jean took three quick steps towards him and without a word or caring if the whole neighborhood saw her, kicked him as hard as she could between his fat legs twice.

Vernon collapsed on the ground in manly pain.

"That was for leaving my cousin out in the middle of the Irish woods, you fat piece of crap. Pray we never meet again or I'll make Magneto look like a saint," said Jean with a snarl.

With that, she left. Petunia dearly hoped she never saw her American cousin ever again.

* * *

"Ugh! I need a shower. Even being that close to her made my skin crawl," shuddered Jean.

"I know exactly what you mean. Give me the rugged nature of the forest any day of the week," grimaced Artemis in sympathy.

"Was that really necessary Jean?" asked Ororo. She wasn't happy about Jean practically assaulting that man.

"He makes Magneto look like a bigger advocate of the human/mutant coexistence than the Professor," said Jean, shaking her head.

Artemis snorted.

"The man thinks any who isn't a British citizen who works a 'normal' job as beneath him in every way. I'm pretty sure he'd call all mutants abominations of nature," said Artemis flatly. Jean nodded.

"Petunia was thinking pretty hard on how if Lily was a freak, then I was clearly a crime against nature. I wouldn't be surprised if they were American that they ended up joining the ranks of Stryker without any hesitation at all."

'Reverend' Stryker was a major problem. He was firmly against the existence of mutants and wouldn't hesitate to kill them all if he had the chance. To make matters worse, he had a 'church' of like minded people who went out of their way to spread their intolerant views to others, including innocent children. He was a thorn the X-Men would be thrilled to have out of their side, even if it meant siding with Magneto...so long as they didn't have to kill to do it.

Scott decided to change the subject. So he turned to Artemis and asked "So what powers have you seen manifest?"

"Aside from my psychic abilities, which I try to limit because crowds give me a headache like you wouldn't believe, I heal really fast and I adapt to poisons in mere days and snake venom doesn't even effect me anymore. Now why do you have to wear those weird sunglasses?"

Scott coughed.

"My eyes shoot lasers without them. The glasses provide a dampening effect, even I can only see in reds most of the time."

Artemis looked at Storm, who was driving.

"I control the weather," she said, without having been asked.

"And I," started Jean with a little amusement, "Am a class-ten Psychic. Most of the time I rank a class eight though."

"So you all have only one particular mutation?" asked Artemis. They nodded. "Wonder why I have these as well then..."

To the shock of the three older mutants, Artemis popped out three decent sized claws made of what appeared to be either bone or something similar. With a thought, they turned into some clear material that when the sun hit it sparkled like a gemstone.

"...Is that diamond?"

"I can't do metal...the last thing I want is to attract lightning or be vulnerable to magnets. But diamonds are essentially extremely compressed carbon, and that I can do with a little training. And I had a lot of free time to experiment. It's a good thing I can heal fast though. The first attempts were pretty nasty."

"You have bone claws," said Jean in disbelief. Artemis nodded. "You definitely didn't inherit that from our side of the family... maybe your father?"

"I've never met my father. According to the horse, he died with my mother the very night I was left on their doorstep," said Artemis with a frown. She suddenly sniffed. "You might want to go to a service station. I can smell burning plastic nearby."

Ten minutes later, Scott had to hurriedly drive into a gas station. The radiator hose had broken, or to be more precise it had _melted_. Fortunately the damage was easy to repair. However, that also raised the question of how Artemis had known there was a problem before he did with his experience with motors.

Finding out she had all the instincts of an animal (though it wasn't nearly the same, it was close enough to be more than quadruple a normal human's) was yet another indicator that she had a mutant parent, and not just some latent gene from Jean's side of the family.

Her gaining psychic powers wasn't any surprise...Jean mentioned Lily was a little strange even for a mutant. Apparently her best friend (before they had a falling before she turned sixteen) had a similar ability to know what people were thinking. But the enhanced senses, the ability to heal almost instantly and the bone claws were most definitely _not_ from her family.

Which meant they had to come from her father, though why she got those they had no idea.

And it was a question that wouldn't be answered until Artemis herself turned twelve, when a very gruff mutant was rescued in Canada...


	3. Chapter 3

"So have you come up with a name for them?" asked Scott. Getting Artemis placed into Jean's custody was, aside from having to insure that whoever kept her stuck in Petunia's "care" through liberal use of power, more or less smooth. The fact that the girl had been living in the woods for well over a year because Petunia dumped her there meant that she was unfit as a parent.

There was also the fact Jean worked and lived at a boarding school Artemis would be attending.

Artemis nodded. She had looked up gods and goddesses of the hunt so she could finally name her foxes, since she was tired of calling one Black and the other White.

"I'm calling her Meilikki after the Finnish goddess of the hunt," said Artemis proudly, holding up the slightly smaller dark and white female. She then held up her other fox and said "I'm naming him Wöden, after the leader of the Wild Hunt in Anglo-Saxon mythology."

"So Den and Mei?" said Scott.

Artemis nodded. Scott looked relieved. At least now they had a proper name for her 'pets'.

Artemis was a bright girl...however living in the woods for over a year had done her no favors when it came to interacting with 'civilized' people.

She had become a blunt, unapologetic girl who wouldn't hesitate to speak her mind, if she spoke at all. And no matter what the Professor or Jean tried, she refused to see what was wrong about using her psychic ability on normal humans, when she used it at all. If she wasn't conning people with her words or being an outright thief, then odds were she was subtly using her powers.

Where Jean was a major power house, Artemis seemed to have developed the more subtle nature of her psychic abilities. As a result, it was extremely difficult to even catch her at it. Even the Professor had trouble noticing her listening or nudging when she shouldn't, and he had years of experience with it!

At least they had gotten her to open up more. Even if she wasn't the most trusting except to those with obvious mutations like tails (or in the case of Hank, blue fur and hands where his feet should be).

And to add to that headache, it quickly became apparent that Artemis was a witch. Which explained quite a bit about Lily that Jean had always wondered about, but never had the chance to ask.

She wasn't the first magical child born with mutation in her genes, and she wouldn't be the last. After the headache of the American Ministry trying to remove students from the school, a compromise was finally reached. In exchange for acting as a part-time magical school, the mutants would be considered an off-shoot of the magical government and left alone.

It was ironic that the magicals were so much more reasonable than their less talented counterparts, but then again they knew _exactly_ what the mutants were going through. They had opted to hide instead of confront their aggressors, and so were mostly forgotten and left to live in relative peace. And every time they found a magical child mistaken for a mutant, they would hand them over without a fuss to the magicals, and they would do the same with any mutants.

Tomorrow Artemis would be given her official 'mutant' codename. A way for other mutants to know where her powers stood.

Scott's other name was Cyclops, just as Jean's name when she unlocked her full powers on some poor bastard was the Phoenix.

It was an unofficial rite of passage for young mutants to earn their name. Artemis and her 'familiars' as they were classed by the Ministry, went through an exhaustive battery of tests and one very long run through the Danger Room before she was allowed out. If she couldn't handle the Danger Room, she would have had to wait another year.

The Professor and Jean had the perfect name already made for her. It would cover most of her mutant ability, plus the ones she had yet to unlock because her mother was a witch.

* * *

Jean looked happy and a a little sad as she handed Artemis her new outfit.

"Welcome to the ranks of the mutants. From now on your mutant designation and code name will be Huntress. Now once you finish your degree, you'll be spending the next few weeks with a friend of the Professor's named Hawkeye. He's not a mutant."

"Okay."

Clint Barton, AKA Hawkeye had overheard about the fledgling archer who used homemade arrows and took an interest. He wanted to see how good she was. Once she finished her high school degree (she had apparently inherited her mother's intelligence, because she wasn't even ten yet) she would be in archer boot camp, which would double as Clint's vacation.

"In the meantime, we'll work on your uniform. Once you turn fifteen you're given free reign over what it looks like, since this is just the standard one. However until your considered an adult, don't expect to be brought on any missions. We might use you as an example for the new mutants though."

Artemis would make an excellent example for young mutants...so long as Jean could bribe her into behaving. A few days camping was usually sufficient.

Artemis perked up at that. She already had a few design ideas, because the Professor's taste in battle outfits was beyond horrid. Who would dare wear yellow, black and in spandex if they didn't have to?

* * *

Jean was in the kitchen when the owl arrived addressed to the 'legal guardian of the Potter Heir'.

Opening the letter, because after a while you got used to the owls, Jean's eyebrows shot up.

"Discrepancies in the Potter... _To the Guardian of the Potter heir, it has recently come to our attention that the vaults under your new charge's care have been inactive for more than five years. However, there have been a number of withdrawals made in your charges name and we wish to clarify authorization. If these are valid, then no fines will be presented to those making the withdrawals. Please respond no later than..._ That's weird...the only 'charge' I've taken under is... Oh."

Artemis. The girl that turned out to be the daughter of her favorite cousin. Because they looked so similar, the girl had taken to calling Jean her 'older sister'. The strange thing was that it worked out better than if Jean had tried to act like her mother. Artemis certainly wouldn't have listened.

Jean took the letter to the Professor, and he agreed it was best to straighten this out now before anything happened.

* * *

"Welcome to Gringotts. How may I help you?" asked a cheerful-looking muggleborn.

Unlike the English, the Americans hadn't bothered to keep the goblins as bankers. They let them work as soldiers instead, which worked much better than forcing them to do finances. In order to get around the ICW's restrictions of goblins serving in the army, they called them mercenaries that just happened to share a common enemy. In exchange they looked the other way if any looting happened, within reason.

"We received a letter from Gringott's about my sister's finances, and wish to have a few things cleared up."

"Take a left when you reach the end of the hall and it should be the third door on the right," she said helpfully.

Jean took Artemis to the door, where they waited their turn.

"How may I assist you today?"

Jean held up the letter.

"One moment please. I'll need a blood sample to confirm her identity."

Artemis, without a single hint of squeamishness, bit into her thumb to provide a decent sized dollop of blood. The woman looked slightly amused.

"You know we could have given you a sterile knife to use," she said.

"I've bleed enough for dumber reasons," shrugged Artemis.

The scroll unfurled, revealing a complete family history for the past three centuries.

Artemis Fox (Rosemary Andromeda Evans ***Potter-Black***)

**Mother:** Lily Potter ne Evans

**Father:** James Howlett ***James Potter***

**Uncle:** Viktor Howlett ***Remus Lupin, Severus Snape***

**Aunt:** Petunia Dursley ne Evans

**Cousin: **Jean Grey, Dudley Dursley, Sirius Black, Draco Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy ne Black...

Jean looked at the scroll in shock.

"What do these mean?"

"Blood or magical adoption. I'm guessing she became a Potter when James declared her his daughter, and since he had no living heirs magic declared her his child anyway. And considering how inter-married the English are, I'm not surprised there are so many under the cousin listing. Now as to why we alerted you... it seems someone has gotten a copy of her vault keys under the name of her 'magical' guardian. We can reset it to you for a small fee," she replied.

"Can we take it out of her vault?" asked Jean.

"Of course."

Jean and Artemis spent the next two hours going over the finances. Jean knew a bit about investments, plus this would help some of her fellow mutants who were sympathetic to their cause. They would also use Artemis' gold to buy out people like Stryker in an attempt to cut the ground out from under him.

Artemis couldn't care less, mostly because if worst came to worst she could always live off the land. So long as she had a nice patch of land, her bow, knife and her two foxes, she could care less if she was broke or richer than most.

Sometimes keeping things simple was easier.

They left with a small allowance to be paid to Artemis once a month from her own vault, a new wallet and card, and a new set of vault keys.

At least now they had a name for Artemis' mystery father and an uncle.

* * *

The minute the Professor searched out 'Viktor Howlett', he found a very nasty surprise.

Viktor Howlett was Sabertooth, one of Magneto's more devoted followers. Which meant Sabertooth had a brother they were unaware of, probably as feral as he was.

Well at least now they knew why Artemis took to the wilds so quickly. It was in her nature, passed down through the bloodlines.

Charles spent the briefest of moments looking for whoever James was, but Sabertooth detected his presence before he could find anything useful.

Hopefully he would dismiss it as a random mutant and not someone deliberately seeking him out.

* * *

Artemis concentrated. She had never had a wand to do magic before, and she saw no reason to buy a stick now to continue that gift. Her teachers insisted she get one, if only for the delicate work, but said nothing about learning to cast magic without it.

"Well done Ms. Fox. I daresay you have a natural knack for wandless transfiguration. Keep this up and we might let you learn how to become an animagus early," said Mrs. Calvert.

"Animagus?"

"Animal transformation. Not usually recommended for those under fourteen, primarily because there's always the risk the animal would take control and they'd get stuck, but in your case I seriously doubt that would be an issue. You're naturally in-tune to your animal instincts, so the real issue would be the transformation."

Most children couldn't handle controlling their more feral nature if they started the transformation. But in Artemis' case, it was more like she had to learn how to handle her senses being upgraded beyond what she was used to.

Artemis perked up at that. If she could take animal form, it would make getting food that much easier and she wouldn't have to worry about those pesky laws about children. At least, not until she wanted to.

"You really think she's ready for that level of transfiguration?" asked Mrs. Burkhardt.

"She's already far past what the European mages would be at in concerns to self-transfiguration. Most children over there wouldn't even think of going with something as strong as diamond or think about the ramifications of using _metal_ to replace the bones," said Mrs. Calvert.

Most people would think to turn their bones into metal, never considering the downsides like poisoning. Artemis, however, knew that metal attracted lightning like ticks to a dog. So instead she compressed carbon to the point it became diamond. Low grade diamonds, but diamonds nonetheless.

Since going to the bank, Artemis had a better idea of what the claws were supposed to look like. They were already a lot more solid and sharp than before, not to mention a higher quality.

* * *

"Is that an owl?" said Artemis, where she was working on her telekinesis. Where she lacked in power, she made up with speed and subtlety.

Scott closes his eyes before swapping out his visor for his sunglasses.

"I think so, but why isn't it going to the Owlry like the others?"

Shortly after the integration of the magical classes, the Professor added an owlry so the birds wouldn't disrupt lessons or draw attention. So the fact an owl was deliberately ignoring it's instincts to head to the building said volumes.

"Head inside and we'll see what this is about," said Scott to Artemis. She nodded, and the owl immediately veered to meet her. Scott frowned.

He sent a mental call to Jean. After a while, Jean learned to filter out the voices, so if someone was sending a thought directed at her, she picked up on it.

When the owl landed, their confusion only increased.

"Why would Hogwarts be sending a letter to Artemis under her old name when she's already registered as one of ours?" said Ororo.

"From what I understand they see her as a 'savior' and they've been using her as some sort of fairy tale character. I've put a stop to most of it, but the older books are still in circulation," said Jean.

She had gotten a few angry letters that never made it to her. The school was safe from howlers, because they were unnecessary pieces of magic that didn't solve anything. Upon learning of the existence of screaming letters, the Professor put that on the list of things not allowed on school grounds. There was a ward that covered the entire Institute, and you couldn't get fifty feet of hearing distance with one.

Mrs. Calvert cast a standard detection spell, and her frown turned into an angry grimace.

"This is laced with a compulsion and tracking charm. If Artemis had touched this, she might have been forced to attend Hogwarts whether she wanted to or not, and it would have given her location away with little to no trouble to the caster."

"Might have been?" said Jean.

"We haven't been testing magic resistance or compulsions. That's something we generally avoid testing for until the student reaches puberty. Though considering who she is, that is a serious lapse on our part," admitted Mrs. Burkhardt.

Jean looked at her sister.

"Well?"

"No way am I going to that backwards place. Hogwarts is a joke, and the only thing I would do if I went there would be to disappear in the forest they have right outside the castle," stated Artemis flatly.

Jean took out a piece of parchment they kept on hand for letters to the magical community. She wrote a firm 'No thank you' and explained that Artemis was already getting a magical education, before she rolled it up and tied to the owl. It hooted before leaving.


	4. Chapter 4

A week after the owl, someone came to the Institute. Or to be more specific, two people came. One looked like a school teacher and the other looked like a reject from the sixties or seventies. Both of them were clearly from Europe...they were the only ones who still wore _robes_ of all things.

One of the other psychics named Anna who lived at the Institute met them at the gate, and discreetly read their minds. She had to be extra subtle with the older one who had some form of shield around his mind.

From what she knew, generally the only ones who bothered with mental shields were those who dealt with legilmency regularly...or were mind readers themselves.

There was a downside however. As a consequence of being from a pure blood society, they weren't used to mutants or the fact that unless they were looking for it, natural psychics could walk right past their shields.

In a way, Artemis' shields were perfect for their purpose, even if she originally developed them to keep her own powers in. By turning her shields into briars that caused 'pain' without the correct entry way, it kept psychics (and by extension legilmens) out of her head, while keeping her own psychic ability from reaching past the walls. She just kept the exit closed up.

It would be interesting to see if either one of them figured I out.

The woman was there solely to check on Artemis and to see if she was genuinely getting a good education. The old one was more interested in retrieving Artemis and regaining the power he had over her life. Anna hated that 'Greater Good' crap.

* * *

Charles Xavier recognized the older man. It was hard not to when most of his extra teachers complained about him and were very happy when they got jobs at the Institute.

Albus Dumbledore. A man who made a lot of promises he had yet to keep.

Almost immediately after making eye contact, Charles could feel the subtle push of legilmency, a spell he helped some of the more magically inclined students perfect. Charles' smile became a tad more set, but he allowed the wizard to believe he had no shields... for now.

He sat and listened to Dumbledore for the first twenty minutes, before he detected a mental intrusion that had him throw up his shields.

"I believe if we are to resolve this misconception, we should start on the proper footing," said Charles, giving Dumbledore a displeased look.

Dumbledore blinked.

"And that would be?"

"You came in here assuming this is a 'muggle', I believe is the term the Europeans use, school. I'm afraid that would be in error. This is a school for those born with certain genetic traits that make it rather difficult for the children to pursue normal education with their peers. Tell me, are you aware of the current debate on mutants?"

"What exactly are _mutants_?" asked the woman. Minerva McGonagall.

"To put it simply, they are the 'werewolves' of the 'muggle' community. People who unfortunately do not have the luxury of hiding like yourselves. A mutant is someone born with an extra piece in their genetic code, giving them unique abilities that humans cannot duplicate with any success. Because of this, if a mutant is discovered they generally become treated the same as the werewolves in the magical community. And the gene is very similar to the one that give first generation magicals their gifts," explained Charles. He was using the simpler version for their benefit, as he was fully aware that most magicals didn't bother to keep up with the times.

Dumbledore nodded.

"I take it the muggles react badly to their presence?"

"To put it mildly. This is a school where they can learn to use their powers safely and for the benefit of others. Now since this is genetic, we also offer classes for those born to magical parents and have worked out an arrangement with the Ministry to avoid complications. We're a fully registered school for magic, even if the courses are only available to those with the gift. Our primary purpose is to locate new mutants, train them and give them safe haven from those who would harm or use them to further spread misunderstandings."

"It sounds like you have a rather successful school. May I ask how Ms. Potter attracted your attention?"

"To be perfectly honest, she is related to one of my better success stories. Jean, would you come in please?" asked Charles.

When Jean walked in, the two magicals stared. She was a dead ringer for Lily Evans, with different colored eyes.

"This is Jean Grey. One of my more distinguished graduates," said Charles.

Jean made a point not to look Dumbledore in the eye, having found out that he was a mind reader.

"May I ask how you are related to Ms. Potter?"

"Lily was my favorite cousin. If I had known she was magical, it would have given us more to talk about. Petunia was more than happy to sign over the guardianship of my favorite cousin's daughter."

McGonagall looked disgusted.

"I told you those muggles weren't the right sort to raise a child!" she growled at him.

Jean looked at her.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I was there when _he_ left the poor girl on the doorstep ten years ago. I watched them for a single day and I knew without any doubt that Petunia was an unfit guardian. She wouldn't even discipline her own child, and I remember hearing from Lily how much her own sister hated her for having magic. Freaks indeed!" sniffed McGonagall.

"And it never occurred to you to knock on the door and ask her if she wanted to raise Lily's daughter?" said Jean incredulous. Judging by the look on his face, that was a 'no'.

"I left a trusted member of my Order to keep an eye on her. Admittedly, it did take her a while to find out that Ms. Potter was no longer in the residence."

"And how long was 'a while'? She had been living in the woods for two years before we found her," said Jean incredulous.

At that, McGonagall whipped around to face the Headmaster with an angry look.

"You told me that she was perfectly safe with them," she growled.

"Arabella never reported that they had..."

"_Two years, Albus?!_" hissed McGonagall like an angry cat.

Dumbledore tried vainly to change the subject.

"Am I to assume there's no way we could convince you to allow her to return to England?"

"I'm afraid that's nonnegotiable unless she wants to return. Considering how close she is to Jean, that's rather unlikely. There's also the fact she has apparently inherited the same mutation Jean has, as well as from her father," said Charles simply.

"James wasn't a mutant," said McGonagall confused.

"Traditionally it's the men who pass on the gene, and it can be dormant for several generations," said Charles, omitting the fact that Artemis was a Potter by adoption.

Technically she _was_ James' daughter...just not the James they were thinking of.

The magicals left feeling somewhat unsatisfied, or at least that was the case with Dumbledore. Once McGonagall saw the classes that were being taught and the fact Artemis had learned the moment they knew she had magic in her bloodline (a good three years before they would have brought her to Hogwarts), she admitted the girl was probably better off in America.

The thing was that they never said Artemis' chosen name. And since she had magically changed it at the bank, anyone trying to enforce a magical contract under the name the Potters gave her would backfire with a vengeance.

* * *

"So you're supposed to pitch a big presentation in front of Congress about mutation?" said Artemis.

Jean nodded.

"Can I help?"

"I don't know if they'll let a child into this meeting..."

"They can't track psychic ability. I could probably sneak in by pushing the Professor around and posing as a student trying to fill some part of my government class," countered Artemis.

"Or you could say that you want to learn more about politics as a future voter," said Jean, considering it. It wasn't that uncommon for someone Artemis' age to take an interest, and having her pretend she was there to see how government worked was an excellent cover. They might be able to swing a few other mutants who were taking government class if they played that angle up.

"There's also the fact that unlike you, I've been reading the recent history books and I've seen some inconsistencies that we can use to get them to drop this issue for a long time, or at least look at it in a new light."

Jean's look spoke volumes.

"Why don't we run this by the Professor and see if he agrees with your argument."

* * *

Charles listened with amusement to Artemis' reasoning for going to the presentation. He could easily gain entry for a small number of students for a class project. But the using history to shut down this bill was something he needed to hear for himself.

Which was why he would play the part of a senator who was against mutants and wanted this bill to pass. Artemis had thirty minutes to either convince him or present an argument that was hard to counter in a way that would offend the least amount of people.

"Okay Artemis, present your argument."

"According to recent statistics, there are more Native Americans in the US than there are known mutants. And thanks to the work of people like Martin Luther King Jr., discriminating people based on race, religion or genetic disposition is considered illegal in every state. By that reasoning, this bill should be considered illegal because it persecutes a minority group based on factors outside their control."

Charles blinked. He hadn't thought of mutants as a minority group, though it made sense. If this was true, then it did provide mutants a degree of protection in the eyes of the law.

"There are those who could argue that mutants are 'less' than humans, or that they deserve this," said Charles. It was a distasteful fact, but one they had to deal with far too often for his liking.

"This bill not only infringes on American rights, it also comes borderline close to tyranny much like the Nazi regime. In the mid 1940's, Hitler ordered that anyone of Jewish faith be taken to camps and treated as less than human because they didn't fit his 'Aryan' profile. They marked and 'registered' to keep records of all those forced to live in those horrible conditions, and this bill is doing almost precisely that."

Charles barely kept from wincing. He knew full well his old friend and often times enemy Eric was likely to come to this meeting and this might bring up old memories.

"People might not react well to be called borderline Nazis," he pointed out.

"Well there's also the fact that once people got it in their heads African Americans were people too, they didn't really treat them all that well until people started doing sit downs and displaying passive aggressive resistance. You could always point out that what they're trying to do to mutants is almost _exactly_ what they tried to do to them nearly a hundred years ago. No matter how you look at it, mutants do fit the requirements of a minority group and persecuting those is considered illegal in the US," said Artemis flatly.

"I won't argue about that, but I want you to do further research and come up with a convincing argument that doesn't make it sound like you're calling those who support the bill racist Nazis outright," said Charles.

Artemis perked up. Time to hit the books.

It took her three tries before she came up with a convincing argument against the bill that would make people stop and think without outright insulting them in the process.

It also gave the small debate team the Institute had a new member. Artemis had a way of words and a real skill for using history against people.

* * *

Jean was making her case about mutants, she was hoping that she didn't have to use Artemis' arguments to shut down the bill...hard. Yes, her sister made a very convincing and hard to counter argument, but it also forced people to consider things they normally didn't like to think about.

She finished making her case, telling Congress about mutation and why it happened, when one of the Senators stood up.

That's when Jean knew this was going to be a real headache.

She felt Artemis nudge her, and let her sister take over. What happened next was brutal...for those who hated mutants anyway.

Artemis pointed out flaws and arguments that most mutants would have overlooked...like the fact that mutants technically qualified as a minority group.

Up in the balcony, one mutant in particular was listening on with interest. Especially when Artemis started dragging up what many considered ancient history for some...and a very painful reminder for him.

It took Magneto exactly two minutes to locate the one feeding Jean Grey the information needed to spark a credible case in the courts for the rights of mutants...and give them a strong backing to make new laws that would help their cause rather than hurt it for once.

Still...some of the arguments dragged up painful memories he would rather like to forget if he could.


	5. Chapter 5

Five minutes after Artemis finished tearing down any chances of the Mutant Registration Act being passed, she left the balcony to follow someone who had caught her attention.

Because she specialized in the subtler forms of psychic ability, she had developed a skill set that the Professor and her sister couldn't...empathy.

She followed the feeling of emotional pain to someone she had only ever heard about second hand.

Magneto.

The Professor had yet to pick off the fact she had left the room, or that she had followed his old rival/friend.

Magneto hadn't picked up on her following him, so he was rather surprised when she hugged him.

"Sorry if I dragged up so many bad memories," she said.

"So you were the one feeding her the information needed to shut them down. I must say I am impressed someone so young is so skilled at this," he said, once he recovered.

While it wasn't enough to drown out the pain of the memories, the fact the girl was sincere about her apology did dull it a little bit.

"It helps to develop counter arguments when you're trying to get a little more time away from the mansion. I hate crowds," Artemis replied. She had developed her skill at negotiating and making effective counter arguments whenever Jean bribed her with time in the wild. She had to be very effective to earn a day or two more, especially after she trained with Hawkeye from S.H.I.E.L.D. and they found out she was almost as good at trick shots as he was.

He especially impressed at the fact she knew how to make her own arrows with a sharpened rock or a simple hunting knife...and that they actually _worked_ nine times out of ten.

Magneto looked at the girl closer. She looked strangely familiar, and not because she bore a striking resemblance to Jean Grey.

"Artemis, there you are."

Artemis didn't have to turn to know the Professor had realized she had left the room to run after Magneto.

"I dare say you've found an...interesting...student Charles," said Eric.

"She is that. It's hard to believe she survived all alone in the Irish woods for two full years before we found out she was Jean's cousin," said Charles.

Eric gave him an odd look.

"How old was she?"

"About seven or eight when we found her. She was more feral than anything, yet she still had enough presence of mind to attend the closest school so as to avoid suspicion by authorities."

"I must admit, I'm surprised she knew something was wrong."

"Artemis has recently started to develop empath abilities. What she lacks in power she's made up in diversity," said Charles.

As the two talked, Artemis went to check on Jean. Mostly because she wanted to try her luck at getting some time in the woods again.

* * *

"We've got to move. The Professor got a hit on a mutant about to run head-first into Magneto's group," said Jean.

In between his attempts to find James Howlett, the Professor caught wind of an attack on a known mutant who went by the name Wolverine along with a second, younger mutant with a rather dangerous ability.

Sabertooth had yet to figure out who kept intruding, but he knew something was up because he had managed to cut it off faster than before. At this rate he would know _every_ time Charles enter his mind trying to find something. Or he'd tell Magneto. Either way he was running out of time.

Artemis overheard it, but she knew she wouldn't be allowed to go. For one thing, Magneto had already developed an interest towards her after an odd comment Sabertooth made after he caught her scent on him.

She had no idea he would have caught it so fast, or that it would raise alarms in his head. Let alone the fact that he knew it, but was able to keep that information from the Professor.

However there were other options. For one thing, she had the feeling this mission wouldn't exactly end like they hoped, so she was able to secure a spot in the infirmary as Jean's assistant. A few charms and she could clean up blood and anything else if needed.

Which was why she was in a prime position to come face-to-face with the infamous Wolverine himself.

* * *

The last thing he remembered was the explosion and a lot of pain. Waking up in what looked like a hospital room with a hot red head wasn't too bad...but then his eyes meet with a girl barely thirteen if that.

It wasn't the hair or the facial features that caught his attention. It was the scent she had. It was so familiar that it was hard to describe, but the strongest ones he was picking up was fox, earth (the kind you'd find in a forest, not a well kept garden) and rock. In short she smelled distinctly of nature and for some strange reason it put him at ease.

Still, he sure as hell didn't appreciate the needle in his arm and he let the red head know, in spades.

The whispering voices he could do without too. And just when he thought he was going insane, they abruptly stopped without any explanation.

At least until he came face to face with the kid.

"If you go upstairs you'll run head first into the students going between classes. If you want to avoid that mess I suggest waiting five minutes."

"Where am I?"

"Xavier's School for the Gifted. It's a mutant sanctuary in New York that doubles as a school to train young mutants without telling everyone and their grandmother what they are. Jean and the others brought you here because the Professor caught wind of an attack on a pair of mutants while he was looking for something."

She cocked her head.

"It sounds like most of the students are at their other classes. It should be a lot easier to go see the Professor without dealing with the hubbub," she said.

Artemis lead a confused Wolverine straight to where the Professor was waiting. He looked between them with some confusion. Artemis normally didn't take to people or mutants that quickly.

Artemis left, but there was still the unspoken question of why she opened up so fast to this newcomer when it had taken Jean a full week before the girl would agree to sleep indoors. She still mostly slept in the decently sized tree house on the grounds, but during thunderstorms and the like she came inside.

* * *

Jean took one look at the X-Rays of his skeleton, and knew immediately why Artemis had taken to him.

_Professor, I think we found Artemis' father._

_Are you sure?_

_He has the same mutation in his hands and a rapid healing factor. We could always do a DNA test, but..._

_Better to be safe than sorry Jean. Run the DNA and see if it's a match. You still have the blood samples don't you?_

Jean took the samples she had taken earlier and marked one for a different kind of test than normal.

Though it really didn't seem necessary when they saw how quickly Wolverine gravitated towards Artemis.

Just to be on the safe side, Jean took her 'sister' aside.

"Artemis, are you sure it's a smart idea to spend so much time with him?"

Artemis cocked her head.

"Is this because he's older than dirt?" she asked dryly. They hadn't raised a single peep of protest about her spending three weeks with Clint in the wild woods sharing archery tricks, and now they were worried Logan was a cradle robber?

"There's that...there's also the fact you opened up to him faster than you did me," admitted Jean.

Artemis tapped her nose.

"His scent is familiar. Anyone who has the ability to track through scent knows that the child always carries a small part of their parents even if they've never met."

That was how she knew without being told who Logan was. She forgave him for not trying to find her, since from what she understood, it was a one-night stand that neither of them even remembered, especially since Logan had amnesia that made it near impossible for him to remember anything past a few decades ago.

To Jean that just gave her another check towards Logan being Artemis' father.

* * *

He didn't know why they dragged him back downstairs, or why the kid with the comforting scent was there with him. All he did know was that he was going to hear his test results, though he would like to know why one of them took two days to come back.

Seeing his skeleton was interesting...until Jean dropped the bomb.

"Your real name is James Howlett," she told him.

"Excuse me?"

"We haven't been able to identify the source of your amnesia, but we have been able to track down some of your history that you've apparently lost. We're also aware that you do have some relatives still around, one of which was part of the attack that got our attention."

Logan sat up.

"How the hell do you know my real name if I don't?"

"Artemis?" said Jean. The red head sitting two seats away from him did something that nearly gave him a heart attack.

From in between the webbing of her fingers, three claws came out. Bone claws, to be precise. They were almost identical to his, except he had metal covering his entire skeleton. When they retracted, the skin healed instantly as if it had never happened.

"It's not unheard of for a child to inherit identical mutations to the parent, particularly if it's the father who's passing it down. However the fact she got almost all of your mutation is rather unusual," said Jean.

"Hold up a damn minute! Are you telling me I have a _kid_ who's not even thirteen?!" he said in shock.

"To be fair, from what I understand my mother was English and was very likely drunk enough not to realize that she had left the bar with the wrong man. And by the time anyone would have realized I wasn't the child of her husband they were already dead," said Artemis.

Logan didn't know whether to be in catatonic shock or horrified. He had a _kid. _A daughter no less, and she was almost a teenager! Just the mere idea of trying to raise her was giving him nightmares!

"Ironically the woman you slept with happened to be my favorite cousin. Since Artemis and I look so similar we just declared that she's my younger sister. And while I don't expect you to suddenly want her or try your own hand at raising her, we don't mind if you happen to spend a little time with her."

"Unless you plan to spend a few months in the woods, count me out. I like it here," piped Artemis.

That calmed him down. So they weren't expecting him to take her and raise her. He wouldn't know the first thing about raising a kid anyway.

* * *

Logan sat in the tree house next to Artemis. Ever since having the bombshell that he had an _almost_ teenaged daughter dropped on him, he had been coming to terms with the revelation.

The fact they weren't expecting him to try and raise her was the only reason he was still there. He could live with visitation, at least until he got to know her.

"So...how long have you been living here?"

"Since I was eight or nine. Jean found me living in the woods with only Wöden and Meilikki as my companions. These came in real handy when I couldn't bring out my knife to make arrows."

"You were living in the woods only with a pair of foxes? Why?"

"My mother was a witch. My aunt hated her for it, so she dumped me in the Irish woods. It wasn't until I learned to let go of my human inhibitions about hunting and just let nature dictate how I perceived the world that I was able to use these," said Artemis, retracting her claws.

She didn't tell him that her advanced healing ability had been active ever since the killing curse hit her...it was the only reason she was alive.

"I didn't know magic was real."

Artemis grinned.

"I can do this with magic," said Artemis, bringing out the claws...only this time they were almost see-through and had a prismatic quality.

Logan stared.

"What is _that_?"

"Diamonds. I've been getting better with the right examples to base them off of, but they're stronger than metal and safer to make."

"What do you mean safer?"

Artemis stared at his claws pointedly.

"Metal attracts lightning, not to mention the fact it makes you highly vulnerable to one of the more radical anti-human mutants who's primary power is the control of magnetic polarities. He's called Magneto, and if you ran into him you'd be completely at his mercy because from what the X-rays show that metal runs through your entire skeleton."

Logan grimaced.

"Okay, I see your point about rocks being safer, but why diamonds?"

"Diamonds are commonly used in precision cutting or when the material is too dense or tough to use water or metal as a medium. Next to what you've got coated on your skeleton, it's the second strongest material. Only a diamond can safely cut another diamond after all, and what are the odds of me running into that? It took me a while to even figure out how to change my claws into diamonds, and with examples of higher quality ones it's only gotten better."

"At least you'll never have to deal with air port security flagging you down because of it," grimaced Logan. Damn metal detectors. Artemis snickered.

"So...which forest or natural reserve do you like best?" asked Artemis hopefully.

Logan grinned. Finally they had some common ground he could use without putting his foot in his mouth...mostly.


	6. Chapter 6

Rogue wasn't the only one in shock that Logan had a kid. Most of the mutants who knew Artemis were in disbelief her father was not only still alive, but a mutant that was almost as well known as the Professor was.

Wolverine was well known in the mutant community for becoming a berserker when crossed. Because of his healing ability, he was known for getting the job done no matter what...and that was before he got his metal claws.

Logan was more interesting in getting back his past. Having the magicals on his side made that a much easier process and it didn't involve the Professor digging through his head. Reading battle reports and first-hand accounts of him and his brother Viktor was a real eye opener.

However finding out that his brother was also the same asshole who attacked him while he was with Rogue also meant they wouldn't be having any touching family reunions any time soon. Sabertooth was definitely not the sort of person he wanted to be around, brother or not.

The same couldn't be said of his daughter. Artemis really had inherited a lot of his traits, unknowingly at least. She was a natural hunter, one more in-tuned with the base animal instincts all humans had but almost all of them ignored. Strangely her pet foxes also seemed to like him, which was a major plus in her book.

Logan planned to go on a camping trip once they figured out what Magneto was up to if only so they could have some father-daughter bonding time that didn't involve crowds. If there was one thing they both agreed on, it was that they hated cities and crowds.

* * *

"I've found a piece of information you might find interesting," said Mystique.

"Oh?"

Mystique slid what looked like test results to Magneto. He opened it, and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. He knew that name.

"Has he been informed?"

"I thought you would be less likely to be attacked when he found out."

In his hands was a copy of the DNA test Jean ordered on Logan, codename "Wolverine", and the "Huntress", named Artemis Fox.

Sabertooth had a grudge against Logan, and not because his brother turned his back on him all those years ago. He wasn't likely to take the news his brother had a daughter who inherited her father's mutation well at all.

"You're probably right about that. We need to handle this carefully."

"What are the odds she'd turn against the woman who's claimed her as her sister?" asked Mystique.

"Not very good. However she isn't as tame as she appears. She was the one who got the MRA shut down permanently though the use of history of all things. The odds of another bill like it coming through any time soon is next to impossible, thanks to her. If e could come up with a persuasive argument, she might sympathize with us," said Magneto.

A meeting with Stryker might change her mind about humans, but he wasn't going to allow any mutant child come within fifty feet of that lunatic.

He might kill for the sake of his brethren, but at least he didn't try to hide behind some religious doctrine. He knew what he was doing was wrong, but the fact of the matter was he didn't care. It wasn't like he had any other options that worked, and he had tried for a while before settling on his current path.

Sabertooth walked in, and he looked pissed.

"What's this I hear about a girl?"

"Who told you?"

Sabertooth tapped his ears. He might not have as good a hearing as Wolverine, but it was still better than a regular human and he was pretty close to the door.

"Sit down."

"I'll stand."

"It would seem the Wolverine has a progeny, one no one was aware of until recently. What do you know of the mutant called Huntress?"

"Good hunter, lives by the laws of nature instead of man. Low-level psychic with a pair of foxes. Rumor has it she spends more time out in the woods killing game with homemade arrows than in the cities," said Sabertooth. One of the few mutants who got his respect, because she didn't kill for trophies and never bragged about her powers. There was tale that the girl wasn't even fifteen, but he didn't believe them.

There was no way someone who hadn't even hit puberty could survive in the woods for two years with minimal contact with civilization using only a bow and arrow. Not in today's world anyway.

"The Huntress is a twelve-year-old girl with advanced senses...and apparently she got them from the Wolverine."

"How the hell did he get a woman pregnant and we didn't know about it until now?"

"From what I understand, the girl was adopted by the woman's husband and they were killed before anyone became aware of the fact that she wasn't the man's daughter. From there she ended up in a human household that hated anything that wasn't 'normal'. She spent two years in the Irish woodlands before Jean found her and they learned she was Jean's cousin on her mother's side," explained Magneto. He had looked the girl up after the senate hearing, partly because Sabertooth had become agitated upon catching her scent, but mostly because she intrigued him.

Anyone who could look past his actions to actually _hug_ him because they brought up bad memories had to be interesting.

* * *

"Absolutely not," said Jean. Artemis had finished her rough draft of what she wanted her mutant battle suit to look like, and there was no way in hell Jean was going to have it made.

Not with that much skin exposed.

Logan, who had come into the kitchen for anything remotely resembling an adult drink, said nothing. However his attempts to escape were sadly thwarted by his own kid.

"What do you think? Too much skin or perfectly acceptable considering I spend so much time in the wilderness anyway?"

Jean looked at him expectantly, hoping for a united front.

Logan looked at the design. And unfortunately for Jean, he didn't think it was that scandalous.

"Wouldn't it get cold in the winters?" he asked, looking at the part where the stomach was exposed.

"That's what warming charms are for, plus the cloak has a hood at the back so I can cover myself with it," said Artemis smugly, having sensed he wasn't as against it as Jean was.

For the most part, the only part that could be considered too little coverage was the fact her stomach was exposed, as was a good swath of skin above the chest. The back was perfectly covered and as Artemis pointed out, she had a long cloak that had a hood on the back so she could cover herself neatly. And while the pants had strategic holes that lined the leg, they still covered more than most would and served to break up the green. There was also several pockets and a belt that would hold useful items.

"I don't see a problem with it, outside of the stomach, but I suppose the cloak would cover that easily."

"Besides, you guys have no room to talk. I've _seen_ Storm's outfit and that's worse than my design easily," said Artemis.

Storm had a weird taste in battle outfits. Hers looked more like an S and M costume than something to protect yourself with, cloak or no cloak.

"What does her..." started Logan, when Artemis brought out her phone and showed him a picture of Storm in her battle outfit made when she originally graduated. He gave Jean an odd look. "Why exactly do you have a problem with her outfit when she could be wearing something like this?"

No way in hell would he see his own flesh and blood wear something that ridiculous. Aside from the exposed stomach, the sleeveless shirt and the fact that she was apparently wearing heels, it was positively tame compared to the one Artemis just showed him.

Jean sighed in defeat.

"I'll send out the schematics for the outfit. But you're not wearing it as an everyday thing, got it?" she told the girl. Artemis gave her a salute.

Artemis 1, Jean 0.

Jean knew who the Professor generally called to make the outfits, but they mostly went to him for replacements. Add to the fact that she would have it charmed until the thing was more magic resistant than most would ever consider, and she would be ready to hold her own.

"So what brought this on?"

"First they give you a mutant codename. I'm the Huntress. Then you start to get control and are allowed off the grounds without supervision. Finally if you're really lucky you are allowed to make your own battle outfit instead of the standard ones, which I hate wearing because honestly, who likes looking like a damn bee?"

Seeing he didn't get it, she brought up a picture of the standard 'X-Men' uniform, and he grimace himself. It did look extremely corny.

"I see where you're coming from with that, but why all the green? You'll look like a Christmas ornament."

"Yes, but green blends in better in the wilds I generally hide in, not to mention my skin tone makes it even better."

The parts where holes were in the pants were strategically added to break up the green tones of her outfit. It would make hiding much easier, even if it cut back on the insulating properties of her pants. The shoes, which were specially designed high heels, doubled as a way to hide a weapon or potions. The heels were made of special polymer that hid metal and could be broken off to provide flat shoes that she could run in.

And yes, she was aware that wearing that much green with her hair color did give the impression she was a fan of Christmas, but frankly she didn't care. She liked green. It matched her eyes and she could always dye her hair.

"Now that I've pretty much given red a reason to hate me, how about you show me some of those tricks you've been talking about using the bow and arrows?"

Artemis perked up.

She retrieved her bow and spent the next couple of hours doing trick shots without once relying on her psychic ability to pull them off. It was why Hawkeye treated her like a little sister...she didn't use her powers to make the shot easier.

* * *

Rogue woke up to use the restroom...and overheard Logan having a nightmare.

She went into his room, and when she shook him awake, Logan's instincts caused his claws to come out and impale her by mistake. Rogue had no choice but to draw his healing factor from him to survive.

By the time she had undone the damage he had caused by mistake, Logan was in severe pain. Rogue was horrified, because she really respected him.

By morning the entire school was abuzz about the accident.

Rogue sat on a bench miserable.

That feeling only got worse when Logan's daughter Artemis came and sat next to her.

"So you accidentally drained him. It's not the end of the world and you're not the first to have accidents," said Artemis simply.

"I hurt your dad!" said Rogue horrified at her own actions.

"Advanced healing factor, and it's not like he blames you. It was an accident. If anything he's probably blaming himself for not locking the bloody door," said Artemis sensibly.

Rogue still looked upset.

"Look, why don't we go talk to him about it and see what he has to say. Everyone knows it wasn't your fault, and you're not the first mutant with powers that could be considered dangerous. No one expects you to have perfect control when you only recently awakened your powers," said Artemis.

Rogue looked uncertain, until Artemis deliberately put her hand on her exposed arm.

Rogue instinctively tried to pull away...until she realized she wasn't getting anything. She paused and looked at the hand.

"I...I'm not getting anything."

Artemis blinked, before she looked at the hand. It had a subtle spell over her skin that she recently learned in class.

It was a charm meant to prevent tears on clothing.

"I wonder... Come on, we need to do some tests," said Artemis with an idea.

Rogue was in amazement.

"I can touch you!" she said in shock. She hadn't been able to touch anyone since her mutation awakened.

* * *

"Okay, I'm lost," said Jean.

"It's a charm meant to prevent clothes from being torn. It creates a thin barrier. I've also heard it's been used as a contraceptive charm, though you have to be very careful using it like that," said Artemis.

Jean stared at her.

"What would you know of..."

"Jean, I practically _live_ in the woods. You don't need to explain the mechanics of _that_ to me. Rabbits are a pretty good demonstration of what happens," shrugged Artemis.

Jean and Rogue blushed. It was embarrassing enough explaining puberty to a teenager...learning about that from rabbits was almost as bad!

At least Jean wouldn't have to explain the birds and the bees to her.


	7. Chapter 7

While Jean tried to straighten out the mess with Rogue, Artemis had a bigger task. The Professor had agreed to let her and her father leave the mansion for a period of no more than two months.

Father-daughter bonding time he called it.

Artemis saw it for what it really was...a chance for her to exercise her psychic abilities without being overwhelmed by the sheer _noise_ level she always got. She rarely practiced outside of telekinesis, because telepathy tended to overwhelm her no matter how hard she tried.

If she tried to open up the channels around a group of a dozen or more people, it was strained. Twenty or more and she was strained beyond what she could handle.

Artemis was very much a loner, and she was pushing her limits as it was living in a boarding school. It was why they let her sleep more often than not in the tree house on the school grounds instead of with other students.

She still had to take classes though.

Hence why she was going on a vacation...both to learn more about her family and to see if they could figure out how the hell Logan lost his memories to begin with. And in the process they were going to investigate a strange complex in northern Canada in hopes of finding out who grafted metal onto his skeleton.

Artemis could get away from ever having to have the same treatment done to her skeleton...she had almost perfected transfiguring her 'claws' into pure diamonds. Despite having examined Wolverine's metal claws, she knew diamonds were a lot safer than changing her skeleton to metal for several reasons.

One: diamonds didn't come with metal poisoning.

Two: they couldn't be detected by metal detectors, something her father complained about when she asked. The look on his face when he bitched about how much trouble he went through because some idiot made the damn things got her to laugh.

Three: it made it impossible for mutants like Magneto to control her movements and it didn't make her into a giant lightning rod. Yet another thing that got Logan to bitch because of all the times he had been hit since he had the metal put onto his bones.

Four: she chosen diamonds was because it was the easiest thing a child of her limited experience could do. Diamonds were a product compressing carbon and extreme heat. They took millions of years to create and were very, very hard to find. They were also so dense that only a diamond could cut another diamond with any real effectiveness.

If worst came to worst and she somehow lost her adopted father's family money, she could always remove her claws and sell them off. With how fast she healed, she could make a fortune very quickly.

The only snag being that they had no idea what the hell Magneto was up to, or which one of the recently rescued mutants he wanted. Wolverine, or Rogue.

He thought it was Wolverine, based on the fact that Sabertooth went after him first, but Artemis wasn't so sure. With Rogue's abilities she made more sense.

If he wanted someone of Wolverine's ability, he could have very easily tried to get Artemis instead, since it was quickly apparent she had similar abilities and no where near the amount of trust or authority issues.

If he presented a well reasoned argument she might even help without thinking of the consequences. It was one of her flaws...something Xavier was rather reluctant to train her out of because it took a lot to convince her.

The only reason she initially trusted Jean was because her animal instincts recognized the woman as 'family'.

But in order to do that, Artemis would have to organize her things so that she could leave for an extended camping trip with her biological father.

A difficult task considering once she had the chance, Artemis was a bit of a hoarder. A very neat hoarder who had things in easy to find areas, but still a hoarder.

Eventually she narrowed down what she would take with her in her expanded bag to a select group.

Food. She could hunt better than most humans and with her foxes driving the game to her it made that much easier than normal. However she had acquired and extensive spice collection since coming to the Institute along with a much better understanding of how to grill food over open flames. She took the easier to acquire spices and those that were cost effective to replace.

The portable spice rack was a gift from her home economics teacher once she finished his classes and he realized she was better at grilling than he was. It was designed to be taken outdoors and looked very similar to a fisherman's tackle-box, only it had bottles that were charmed to be unbreakable and spill proof. The box itself had a space expansion charm so she could carry more spices than normal, or ingredients she wanted to dry out on the bottom which came with a charm specifically designed for such a purpose.

Her hunting knife had been promptly confiscated upon finding out she owned one meant for big-game hunters, and she still had no idea where Jean hid it. Not even pranking her for a full week revealed where it was, a fact that vexed her often.

The only reason they didn't do the same for the bow was because she hid it with a strange application of accidental magic that allowed one to carry things without having to carry them at all. Artemis rarely experimented with it beyond carrying her weapons and spare arrows. The knife, however, had been kept in the sole of her boot which was why Jean had been able to confiscate it in the first place.

Clothes. She had a three shirts, four jeans, two pairs of shorts and five sets of undergarments. She could go barefoot if she had to, but she preferred her running shoes. If need be she would buy more, but she preferred not to. There was also the matter of her battle suit, something Jean assured her would be finished before they left on their trip.

Money. She had her 'credit card', which was little more than a prepaid card that filled every week with a set amount that would accumulate until she used it. Since she rarely bought anything there was a sizable amount on the card itself, and it was charmed to return to her pocket in the event she lost it. On rare occasions, Jean would increase the amount she got every week.

The foxes. Meilikki and Wöden would follow her anywhere she went anyway, and she had bought a backpack specifically charmed to carry the foxes. There was enough room that they could poke their heads out to get air, but at the same time curl up in small beds inside the bag. It was charmed so that muggles would ignore those specific pockets when the animals were inside...but only if their collars were on.

The bags were designed so that pet owners could transport their magical creatures across borders without having to deal with the headache of customs and immigration asking too many questions. So long as you kept the animals vaccinated and didn't let them breed uncontrolled, they could care less about people transporting their animals across national lines.

Electronics. While she wasn't as enthusiastic about computers she did use them, mostly to compare plants and know what was safe to eat and what wasn't. She also owned a magically powered satellite phone that could get a signal almost anywhere in the world...one that didn't have a massive phone bill attached. It would lock on to the strongest satellite signal...and through the wireless airwaves that surrounded the earth would transmit the signal back allowing her to call people.

It was an absolutely last resort, because she hated cell phones and preferred talking to people face-to-face.

While Artemis was busy getting ready for a long camping trip, the X-Men had a new problem.

And it was in the form of the same idiot who argued with Jean on capitol hill trying to create that stupid Mutant Registration Act that so eerily mimicked the same nonsense the Nazis pulled in the forties.

A fact Artemis had been very quick to point out, bringing up well documented historical facts that were very hard to refute and almost impossible to tear down as arguments. Realizing how close they were to copying the same thing the Nazi political party did in Germany had been a harsh wake up call.

The odds of any more bills trying to brand mutants or otherwise document them like animals were now next to nill. Especially after Artemis pointed out that the mutant 'species' did qualify under the same requirements as a minority under the US laws.

Meaning anyone targeting a mutant for being a mutant was liable to get arrested and thrown in jail for being a racist bigot.

Frankly Artemis couldn't wait for someone to fall into that trap, if only to set a precedent and hopefully give mutant kind equal rights once and for all.

* * *

"What happened to him?" asked Artemis, having finally come in to find Senator Kelly unconscious and looking like hell.

"We don't know," said Ororo. "He just showed up at the door demanding to see Jean, and from what we can determine he's been exposed to radiation of some kind."

"We've got trouble," said Scott.

"What's wrong?"

"Rogue's missing. Logan's gone off to try and find her, but we have no idea where she's gone," said Scott.

"I take it the Professor went looking for her using Cerebro?"

She knew of the great machine that amplified psychic ability, but she had never dared to try her luck at it.

It wasn't because she didn't have the power to handle it, but because she couldn't handle the sheer noise level of an entire world's worth of people.

"Should I go with you in case you do find her?" asked Artemis.

"Absolutely not. If Magneto is after your...father... then he might very well capture you instead since you're younger and easier to convert," said Jean.

Logan had quickly proven himself to be more stubborn and mule headed than most European pure bloods when it came to trying muggle items. Artemis on the other hand was another story.

Capturing her would be much easier, and converting her was possible if given the right incentive.

Not to mention she wasn't even fifteen yet, which was the _bare_ minimum of allowing a mutant out into combat situations. And that was only in extreme circumstances. Until then she had to stay behind the battle lines whether she liked it or not.

Artemis didn't mind. While her healing ability made her an excellent front soldier, she preferred being a support specialist. Specifically sniping if she could get away with it.

There was a sudden alarm shortly after the Professor found Rogue. Someone had gotten into Cerebro and left a slow acting poison in the machine.

There were only two active psychics capable of being in the field with any degree of success. Jean went to try and reclaim Rogue from Magneto since Artemis couldn't handle her psychic ability just yet.

Sometimes being a kid sucked.

* * *

Logan wasn't angry. No, he was downright pissed and ready to carve someone up.

It wasn't entirely because they had paralyzed him and captured Rogue with ease. It wasn't because he had come back and found the Professor out cold from a poison that would take a few days to work itself out of his system.

No, it had everything to do with the comments Sabertooth made about his recently-found daughter. He didn't know how the hell the bastard found out about Artemis before he did, but it was pretty clear he intended to capture and 'train' her since he was apparently a lost cause. If it weren't for his helmeted boss, Logan would have gutted him, brother or no.

Either way he had walked out of that mess with a very bad migraine and a pissed off attitude that was leagues away from his general bad mood.

Artemis came closer and his migraine started to go away. For some strange reason being around his kid...and wasn't that a real trip, even after coming to terms with the fact he had a _kid_... seemed to calm down the more feral side of himself.

Suddenly there was a commotion in the basement.

Senator Kelly had literally turned to water and died. Whatever machine Magneto was using to turn humans into mutants, it had an unstable reaction.

And considering the _only_ reason he would try this stunt would be to turn the world leaders mutants, Artemis had a right to be concerned.

Odds were he didn't even know his device was unstable.

And if that was the case, then he might spark an all-out mutant genocide before he found out.

Artemis had to do something, even if it meant breaking one of the Professor's rules.

* * *

Artemis _hated_ the standard X-Men uniform. The colors were horribly tacky, but it did provide plenty of protection she otherwise wouldn't have.

However Artemis had an advantage the others didn't have. They weren't expecting her and she could use magic.

Particularly scent-erasing spells, since she knew Sabertooth would be there. She was stealthy enough not to be seen, and she would be bringing rope. A lot of rope.

Logan noticed her sneaking onto the jet, and made sure to hang back.

He kept his voice low. Low enough that they wouldn't hear him unless they were looking for it.

"Sneaking onto the mission are we?"

"Magneto hates humans, but I doubt he's stupid enough to kill all the world leaders and leave Rogue behind if he was aware that the machine is flawed. That's just asking for a lot of collateral damage for nothing."

"I'll cause a distraction, you tell the jerk. Just watch out for Sabertooth," said Logan under his breath. She nodded. After the jet landed she slipped out the second the door was open wide enough. She was thin enough to slip out before the others even noticed she was there.

Jean wasn't looking for Artemis, so she never thought to scan for her sister while she was flying.

Time to do a little sneaking around. Though she did snicker when she heard the metal detectors go off.


	8. Chapter 8

Sabertooth's initial meeting of his niece didn't got exactly as planned.

She ignored him completely and focused entirely on Magneto, who she had a quiet conversation with.

Though from the look on Mystique's face it was definitely an interesting one.

He was very confused and more than a little irritated when his boss released the girl they kidnapped instead of forcing her to power it.

"We're letting her go? Just like that?"

"The machine didn't work, and if we continued then all we would have accomplished was giving the _humans_ a legitimate reason to try and kill us. However we can manipulate them into destroying any chance for more anti-mutant laws by having Mystique take the good Senator's place, since he won't be troubling us again," said Magneto.

Truly Artemis was a fascinating child, if she was able to convince someone like himself that it would be far easier to work behind the scenes than it would be to accidentally kill a good portion of the world leaders because he hadn't known about a design flaw.

* * *

Jean took one look at Artemis coming down the stairs with Rogue, and felt like bashing her head against something hard repeatedly. Wolverine looked far too smug, and had evidently noticed she was on the jet with them before she snuck off.

"I take it you didn't have any problems?"

"Told him the machine would just give the humans more reasons to kill us and that it would be easier to have Mystique take the Senator's place and work behind the scenes. At least then he would a modicum of success and he wouldn't be killing a fellow mutant. I also mentioned that if he was really that determined to turn the world leaders into mutants then to try to figure out why Senator Kelly ended up being turned to water before he tried again."

"And how did you get here?" asked Storm, glad they didn't have to fight the Brotherhood of Mutants like they were expecting.

"Snuck onto the jet. Not my fault Jean was more focused on flying than making sure it was only you on the thing," said Artemis with a flat expression.

Oh yes, Jean would have a migraine for this later.

"So are they going to try again?" asked Scott, decided to forget Artemis had disobeyed her sister. She had saved them a lot of trouble and grief.

"Like I told him, if you're going to turn humans into mutants, at least make sure that they're not going to die so fast or at all. He seemed amused by the fact I was chewing him out for not experimenting properly and when I asked why he didn't just take convicted criminals no one cares about anymore as test subjects until he figured out what he was doing wrong," said Artemis.

It wasn't like they were doing anything but taking up space and money, and while some people might waste time and countless man hours trying to find them, she was sure they could get Sabertooth to make it look like they had escaped to another country only to end up becoming bear and wolf food or something.

That had made her 'uncle' snort in amusement at her blunt manner. Apparently he didn't mind being used as a clean-up if it meant he got to watch humans die as test subjects.

* * *

Artemis was snickering. Logan had stolen Scott's bike and she was hanging on to him while he drove around until they reached Canada's magical stations so they could legally enter the country. Thankfully it was less of a hassle than most because she had the right paperwork for both of them.

It took a day and a half to reach the lake, but already she was feeling more at home in the forests than she had at the mansion.

First thing they did was establish a 'home base'. Artemis proved to be the better of the two as she created a large underground area for them to sleep without having to worry about things like wolves...or Park Rangers.

He still found it funny she considered park rangers to be the bane of her existence.

* * *

There was no sound to her. Only her target. There was the minor sound of a string being drawn back...before a thump.

"Dammit girl, what have I said about pink?!"

Artemis giggled as she dropped down from her perch. Hawkeye had instilled a love of heights in her when he trained her in archery.

It was less of her needing training and more of an assessment and a few tips that made it easier to shoot that she would have picked up eventually.

Logan was covered in bright pink paint with sparkles. It wasn't her favorite color but it was a harmless way to 'tag' her father without hurting him.

She had plenty of experience hunting animals. They were easy. Hunting humans and mutants with superior senses were another story. Logan had spent the past two hours trying to track her while she lie in wait.

And now it had paid off. He didn't even see the arrow coming until after she shot it.

Logan went and washed off the pink. He had to admit, she was good. And the new uniform made it much harder to spot her.

What had started out as father-daughter time had turned into a rather enjoyable training trip. Having someone who shared pretty much all the same abilities (right down to the claws) made his life surprisingly more bearable. So he embraced his new role and took to training his daughter with a vengeance. Since she embraced her more feral nature, it made a lot of things easier.

Now if only her pet foxes would quit trying to filch his cuts of the hunt.

Once they were done 'hunting' for the day, Artemis settled in and brought out her claws.

Mei and Den would bring out colorful pieces of printed paper that upon closer inspection turned out to be coupons. Every time she was done cutting one out, Mei would pick it up and put it into a bag, while Den brought another sheet out.

It had confused him at first when he found out she was what some might consider an 'extreme couponer'...until he found out she didn't use them herself but merely cut them out for Storm and Jean, who did most of the budgeting for food and other supplies for a school full of teenagers, but didn't have enough time to cut coupons, let alone want to spend countless hours cutting them out.

Artemis had the free time and it gave her an excuse to use the sharp claws. Provided there wasn't anything she didn't want scratched to hell from her cutting a little too hard. So she did the coupon cutting and in exchange Jean and Storm would ignore when she raided the small storehouse where they kept the food. Considering she wasn't that big a fan of junk food and was more likely to eat healthy, it was a win-win.

The owl Jean had bought while in England, a beautiful white snow owl she named Snowflake, waited patiently for her to finish cutting up that week's worth of coupons. Once she was done cutting, filing and sealing the coupons in a weather proof bag, the owl hooted and picked up the bag carefully in her claws and flew off.

"I still don't see the appeal of cutting up paper," said Logan.

"Neither do I, but it gives me an excuse to use these and saved me carpel tunnel syndrome from having to use scissors all the time. Besides, they let me raid the pantry whenever I want a snack and always bring back goodies for me."

"Any beer there?"

"If there is, Scott and the others are really good at hiding it."

"You've looked for beer before?"

Artemis grinned.

"Meilikki acquired a taste for the stuff once, and you've never seen anything funnier than a drunk fox."

Logan snickered. That he would have to see, if only for a laugh.

"So that would be a no then?"

"There's an alcohol store not five miles from the school, and people quit trying to make sense of my organizing skills years ago. So long as they don't bust me with your stash, they don't need to know," said Artemis.

Logan ruffled Artemis' hair, which made her scowl.

"That's my kid. Always look for the loopholes."

"Of course you will have to learn what to bribe me with if you want my help hiding your stash."

* * *

Artemis was out hunting for fresh meat when she stumbled upon it.

It was a hatch of some kind...and it was man-made, used recently, and not supposed to be there.

Artemis made a point of showing it to Logan, and the two took up position in nearby trees.

Logan damn near fell out of the one he had been in when he saw a man that brought up very painful memories.

Fortunately since no one knew they were there to begin with, no one bothered to look up.

Artemis was at his side the moment they were sure that no one was coming back out for a while.

"Dad? What's wrong?"

"That man. I think he was part of the team that gave me this metal skeleton," said Logan.

"Bad?" she asked.

"Real bad. Normally I'd say let's investigate, but if they're still using it..."

Artemis winced.

"Yeah, too risky without backup. Maybe it would be a better idea to leave the area and head back to the States... I hear Portland's nice."

Logan nodded. He had a bad feeling that if they went into that place they wouldn't come out. Or if they did then they wouldn't be themselves again.

They packed up their campsite, collapsed the den Artemis made to hide their tracks and left the area by nightfall. No way was Logan sticking around that place with the vibes he got from the area.

* * *

"Check out that waterfall!" said Artemis happily. Coming to Portland had been a great idea... there was plenty of old woods to get lost in.

Besides, she was a fan of the _Grimm_ series. Enough said.

Logan snorted. Artemis could be obsessive over certain series, thankfully none of them ever involved romantic nonsense except as a way to move the plot along. Most of what she preferred he could at least _sit_ through without wanting someone to kill him.

About the only thing she couldn't stand was fishing shows. They bored her to tears faster than any soap opera.

The two stayed in Portland for two weeks before moving on because the park rangers had heard multiple complaints from other campers about someone filching food and beer going missing.

They were never implicated but it was only a matter of time. Especially since Logan did nothing to stop Mei's thieving habits when it came to beer.

Artemis was right, Mei was hilarious to watch when she got drunk.

* * *

Their return to the mansion was started with a simple event.

Scott punched Logan...and broke his hand in the process. Apparently he was sore over the fact Logan stole his pet project.

Jean was entirely unsympathetic over the fact her boyfriend had broken his hand punching a mutant with an adamantium-coated skeleton that happened to include his skull. He knew Logan had a hard head.

Artemis simply snickered.

Artemis had come home in time to go to the museum with the others, and as a consequence was the first to learn Jean had been having migraines of late. Apparently her powers were giving her grief because she hadn't used them in a while.

Fortunately Artemis had experience in creating shields designed to harm while at the same time keep powers in. Jean's would likely be stronger than hers because she had the power to burn, but the fact was that expending her ability to make shields would only help in the long run.

Shields could be used as a passive offense, like Artemis' thorns. Most psychics didn't bother to _lock_ their powers away, so the odds of running into a fully formed mental defense was pretty low. Even Jean would admit that her thorns were painful, and because she was unused to psychic pain like that, it was very, very hard to ignore it or work past it.

Psychic pain was something most mutants with the ability would have trouble handling. Brute force attacks they could deal with by attacking back, but something that just caused pain as a secondary thought?

Artemis was a devious girl and Jean would be happy to admit it would be a nice perk.

Said girl was sniffing around Jean with confusion.

"What is it?"

"Why does your scent keep fluctuating between fire and feathers?" she asked.

Jean blinked.

"What?"

"Ever since I got back, your scent has been heavy with the smell of open flame and feathers. I'm not sure which kind of feathers, but still feathers."

Jean had no idea what she was talking about...but then Artemis had a weird epiphany.

"Jean, are there any birds that can survive in fire?"

"The only one I know is the Phoenix..."

"Huh. Maybe you're overdue for a burning day and that's why your powers have gone out of whack," said Artemis, tilting her head.

Jean would have thought the idea ridiculous...except it would explain a lot. Phoenixes had to be reborn every few decades in order to rejuvenate the cells...and Jean was close to thirty-five. If she were a phoenix she would be about due for a burning day.

Hell, even her mutant code name was Phoenix!

She really needed a vacation.


	9. Chapter 9

_Are you with me Jean?_

_I can hear you little sister._

_Good. Now we're going to build up a proper barrier between you and the rest of the world. And as an added bonus, we'll keep other psychics out._

_So where do we start?  
_

_First we make a shield. This is nothing more than a barrier between you and the outside noise._

Jean concentrated on a simple shield. Slowly, so slowly, the noise of the other minds outside started to go away one by one.

_Now we need to give your mind a defense. Now to me, thorns are painful and should be avoided. Let's give you something that your mind instinctively knows is painful. Since your codename is Phoenix, let's try fire._

Jean began to slowly envision fire in her mind. However she was afraid of it.

_This is a part of who you are Jean. Fire does not harm a phoenix. It is a cleansing element that brings new life back to the world. You are a phoenix Jean, try embracing it instead of fearing it for once._

Jean could feel it. There was a flame burning brightly inside her, waiting to be unleashed.

_That's it sister. That is your power. The core of your soul. It is part of you, so there's no reason to fear it._

Jean could feel the flame burning brighter. It was threatening to overwhelm her. She shied back from it, startled.

_That's enough._

It was the Professor.

Jean and Artemis opened their eyes to see...the entire room levitating?!

Upon waking up, there was a lot of crashes...and not just from inside the room.

Hearing the muffled curses of Logan through the window, they realized it had happened throughout the entire mansion.

The Professor wheeled into the room.

"Might I suggest a more secluded setting the next time you train Jean in mental shields?"

"Oops..." said Artemis sheepishly.

"While I applaud your efforts to help your sister, I think we should insure you don't effect the _entire_ mansion whenever you two train."

"Is it _my_ fault Jean's a tenth-level psychic?"

"You should have taken proper precaution."

"We were only making _shields_. It's not my fault Jean's still unsure about her true nature as a hedgewitch!"

While they were building up a defense, Artemis sensed a magical core. Not enough to preform spells, but enough that Jean could relatively qualify as a hedgewitch capable of small feats of magic.

"What."

The Professor evidently wasn't expecting that.

"Jean has magic. Enough to do a few tricks, but not enough to cast spells. Odds are her animagus form is a phoenix. And considering how frayed she's been lately, I'm guessing she's overdue for a burning day."

"In any case, I think you two have caused enough of a mess today. If you can survive for thirty minutes in the Danger Room, I'll let you continue. Otherwise you'll have to help clean up the mess for not taking proper precaution," said the Professor sternly.

Artemis waited until his back was turned before she stuck her tongue out. One of the benefits of shielding her mind was that he couldn't tell when she mocked him.

Jean didn't look too happy about it either.

The Danger Room was bad enough during training. As a punishment, it was generally set at the highest level to teach a lesson about getting ahead of yourself.

Thirty minutes of that was going to be a nightmare, especially since the highest Artemis had ever gone through was medium.

And if one failed, they both did.

* * *

"What's going on?" asked Logan.

"Jean and Artemis apparently forgot to watch what they were doing and levitated half the school. The Professor's making them go through a half hour of the Danger Room or they'll have to help with the clean up," explained Scott.

"Wait... I thought Artemis was helping Jean get rid of the migraines she was having for the past week. How would making shields cause that mess?" asked Logan.

"Jean's a tenth-level psychic, even stronger than the Professor. Apparently while they were building up a defense to keep people out, she brushed up against the core of her powers and they reacted," shrugged Scott.

"So what's the big deal about this Danger Room?"

"Under normal circumstances? It's a training room meant to hone your instincts. On punishment duty...it's set on it's highest level and if there's more than one you have to survive with your team or it's a fail."

"This I gotta see," said Logan.

Artemis was in full uniform, as was Jean. In her hand was a collapsible bow and several short arrows made of steel.

"**Jean, Artemis, you have thirty minutes to survive. If one of you fails, the Danger Room will turn off and you will have to undergo punishment duty. Survive and you'll only get a warning. Any self-contained abilities are allowed, but if it gets out of control then it automatically counts as a fail. So Artemis, no fancy conjurations or trying to mimic Storm or Cyclops. Are we clear?"** said the Professor from the intercom.

Artemis rolled her eyes.

"**We will proceed. Your test begins...now."**

Artemis brought out the claws without a second's hesitation. Her reflexes were on high alert and for good reason.

For the first time in a month, she lowered her shields, sending all of her reflexes to their maximum output.

She dodged a laser to the left, then another from above and to the right.

Her arrows began to spin as if by some unseen wind. Her eyes were dilated, a sign that she had given in to her more feral nature.

Where Logan went into a berserker-like state when he was enraged, Artemis went a different route.

Her body might have the ability to take damage, but she was more agile and speedy than her father. As such she was better suited to hit and run tactics...a fact she demonstrated quite aptly in the simulation.

"Woah... kid's got skills. Where'd she learn to do that?" asked Logan.

"I'm more concerned about the fact she's left her shields down. Usually she can't handle more than twenty people being around her before her powers start to overwhelm her. I've tried to slowly increase her tolerance but it's been difficult."

Logan looked around and noticed that there had to be at least thirty to thirty-five kids watching the run.

"Maybe you used the wrong method?"

"Indeed."

Xavier noticed the time limit. The girls had been surviving for twenty-five minutes and still going strong.

When it hit the thirty minute mark, he cut off the simulation. Jean he knew could handle it...but Artemis had been a surprise. Before the professor could open the door, Logan had already beat him to it.

"Logan, what..." started Jean...before she got a good look at Artemis.

"Professor, you might want to turn the thing back on. Only way I know to calm down someone who's gone feral is to tire them out...otherwise she might start attacking everyone she might think is prey," said Logan, popping his knuckles.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Jean.

"The only reason she hasn't targeted you is because she connects your scent to 'family'. She does the same with me. Trust me, it'll be easier for all involved if I wear her out without any interruptions."

"**If you're sure Logan, then I'll leave her in your capable hands."**

Jean reluctantly left the Danger Room. Logan grinned when he heard Artemis' growl.

Definitely in a more feral mode. Explained how she survived in the wilderness for two years.

"Let's play, kid."

* * *

"Are they still at it?" said Scott four hours later.

Jean nodded, though it was clear she was _not happy_ about the fact Artemis was still in feral state.

They heard the sound of the lift open up behind them.

"Storm, is Artemis going to be alright?" asked Jean.

"She came out of her feral state about 45 minutes after he went in to calm her down. They asked if they could 'play' in the Danger Room for a while and he saw no harm in it since she was never allowed in on her own."

That might change shortly if she could turn off her 'feral' state as Wolverine called it without having to wear herself out.

"Wait...they've been 'playing' in the Danger Room at almost the highest setting for four hours?" said Scott incredulous. Most people didn't like going in there.

"Apparently she keeps 'upping' the level without telling him," said Ororo amused.

As if triggered by his amused comment, the dial slowly began to turn upward to a higher setting.

Jean was not as amused as he was. She stopped it cold.

"That is enough you two!" she scolded them.

"**Aw... Come on sis! This is the most fun we've had in ages!"** whined Artemis.

"No. Unless you want to sleep inside for the next week this ends now," said Jean firmly.

"**Spoilsport..."**pouted Artemis.

Logan said something to her, making her grimace.

That was when the intercom cracked to life.

"**Everyone, into the main hall now! There's a situation brewing in the White House!"**

Everyone dropped what they were doing and headed into the main hall, where the other students were watching with growing horror.

There, on the TV, was the newsreel proclaiming a mutant attack on the White House. However something felt...off...about this.

"If this guy is a teleporter, then why did he just scare the president? If they were trying to send a message, wouldn't standing outside the White House with signs be more effective? This is just counterproductive."

"I agree. This seems more like the first opening move for something much worse," said the Professor.

Even Magneto wasn't this foolish.

The Professor had a bad feeling about this 'attack'.

* * *

_Huntress: _So it wasn't one of yours? I had a feeling that was the case.

_Magneto:_ Believe me, if we _had _sent someone to pull something like this they wouldn't have settled for a dagger in the desk. Not to mention I would have used Mystique since she could have slipped away with none the wiser. This was too visible for my tastes.

_Huntress:_ I believe you. This feels more like someone trying to paint one massive target on mutants to justify a 'cleansing' or something. And I keep thinking about this hatch I saw while we were in Canada. There was something that didn't feel right about it.

Especially since it looked like it lead right under a massive reservoir of water. An effective way to bury the evidence...and anyone stuck inside the bunker.

_Huntress:_ is it possible a human who hates mutants is behind this? Because I really don't see any of the pro-mutant groups you associate with pulling something this stupid off.

_Magneto:_ I'd say it's more than likely. In any case if this is the prelude to something and you're separated from the X-Men, feel free to hide with us.

Artemis was considered a neutral mutant. The only reason she lived with Jean was because she was a minor and Jean was her legal guardian.

A fact Magneto was fully aware of. The fact she genuinely listened to him and treated him with the same respect she gave Xavier, despite the fact he was a bit more...bloodthirsty...and even offered a suggestion that wouldn't piss off the humans only meant she could still be open to his cause.

Well that and Mystique seemed to like her. She tended to chat for hours with the girl whenever she had the time. Something about cooking, apparently.

About the only one who didn't like her was Sabertooth.

* * *

Artemis was half-asleep when her sharp hearing caught the faint whump-whump sound of helicopter blades. No matter how silent they made the engine, if you were listening for it you could still hear the sound of the rotary blades cutting through air. There wasn't any way to hide that completely. She hid behind the curtain and peered outside.

Five helicopters were making a beeline to the mansion. Jean, Ororo and Hank had left the mansion because the Professor had a lock on the mutant who 'attacked' the president.

Which left Scott and Logan in charge of the children at the mansion, since the Professor had been called away by a colleague at the last minute.

She waited until she knew for sure they wouldn't deviate from their course. In fact they were slowing down and the blades became slightly more audible the closer they got.

She was an unofficial warning system in the event of unwanted guests. Because she preferred sleeping outside, she was the first person to notice if someone was coming.

The Professor didn't allow visitors this late at night. Only emergencies, and she didn't think this would qualify.

She carefully opened up her shields and very nearly slammed them shut.

She had thought she had seen the most foul minds in her 'aunt' and 'uncle'. These...people...were ten times worse because they believed that god had told them to wipe out all mutants.

Instead she did something more productive. She sent out a mental alarm to the mansion five minutes before the helicopters began to empty.

_MANSION IS ABOUT TO BE UNDER ATTACK! ANTI-MUTANT SOLDIERS ABOUT TO BREACH PERIMETER! GET THE OTHERS OUT!_

Since it was sent on a mutant-frequency, the soldiers making their way to the mansion never heard her mental warning.

_Artemis, are any of them making their way to the tree house?_

It was Logan.

_No. I seriously doubt they even know I sleep here and not inside, and you know it's closer to the Owlry than it is to the house. Not to mention it's covered from above by the tree itself, so odds are they don't even know I'm here. I only woke up because I heard the helicopter blades._

_I'm setting off the alarms. Do not go after them!_

_Rendezvous point?_

_No time. Contact me online once you get on. See if your...chat buddies...can't pick you up first._

Wolverine knew Artemis talked to Magneto. Considering he was less likely to hurt her on sight than he was the other X-Men, he could live with it. If one of the more dangerous and radical mutants liked Artemis, it meant she had more people she could fall back on.

Artemis slipped out of the treehouse, taking her things with her. The sooner she was past the perimeter of the grounds, the smaller the chance they would realize she had given the X-Men and all the mutants inside a five-minute head start of getting out.


End file.
